How Do You Know?
by Black Rose Blue
Summary: Ron never thought he would love Draco Malfoy but life can surprise you. And then hurt you. Then kick you when your down.
1. I've Loved You Since You Brought A Cake

**I've always had a soft spot for these two, so here's a fic! Written for the 'Slash-tastic' challenge at HPFC forum.**

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Ron stared into the crackling fire. He loved doing it. It made the world just go away and the fire hypnotized him, captivating in his golden glow that made to see the world look much better and more mysterious. He remembered times when he was younger when he would just stare for two or three hours and little had changed since then, but now it was a great way to spend time when waiting for everyone to leave the Gryffindor common room, for him to meet Draco.

Draco. It was odd, his relationship with Draco. He remembered the day that it first started to change, the moment that they first started thinking that the other wasn't so bad, with crystal clarity.

"_What are you doing _here_ Weasley? I would think that you would need Granger to show you here," Ron heard Malfoy drawl behind him as he finished up the potion that he was brewing. Ron huffed as turned everything off and put his stuff away. Why this git, why now? Couldn't he have just a little bit of peace? He had barely gotten any since Harry and Hermione had realized their love for each other and had decided to snog whenever they saw each other, which was frankly very disgusting and made Ron want to puke. So he started hanging around Neville, but then Neville found love with Luna, and Ginny was with Dean, and Seamus was with Parvati. He was just about to resort to hanging around with Colin or Lavender even, but then those two decided to get together and frankly Ron wasn't sure how _that _had happened, and thought everything was a little to neat. The point was, all the friends that Ron had or even just people that he was on casual terms with was in a relationship and made him feel alternatively depressed that he wasn't and disgusted by all the snogging. Cue the want for peace and the hanging around the potions dungeons, as who would snog in the dungeons. The making of potions was Hermione finally rubbing off on him._

"_Well, aren't you going to answer Weasley? Or McGonagall got your tongue?" Draco smirked as he repeated the age old joke of Hogwarts. Ron had never thought it was very funny, and the first and second years rarely ever got it. Ron just wanted to leave the dungeon and get away from Malfoy, but knowing Malfoy, he'd follow Ron until he answered. So Ron answered._

"_Everyone is snogging and in love and happy and I just wanted to leave and not see them. I came down here because who would honestly snog here, and Slughorn doesn't seem to live down here like Snape did, and Hermione has rubbed off me enough that I decided to practice some new potions. What are you doing down here Malfoy?"_

_Draco seemed surprised by Ron's answer and the fact that Ron had said something honest and not sarcastic at all. "I know what you mean. Pansy and Blaise are together, plus Daphne and Theo now. Greg and Mil are together also, and Vince is with a seventh year girl, Joanie, though how those two got girlfriends is beyond me, because Mil and Joanie maybe ugly, they are not_ that_ ugly." Draco gave a slight chuckle and Ron couldn't help but give a small grin, though it went against his natural instincts._

"_Well I have to go now Weasley. See you later though." _

_It was the strangest day of Ron's life, which was saying a lot, but for some reason, he didn't mind._

Ron was broken out of his reverie by a crashing sound. Looking up and turning around, he saw a fifth year Gryffindor girl, whose name he couldn't remember at the moment, who was clearly trying to sneak out without disturbing him. They looked at each other for a moment, but Ron said, "I won't tell if you won't." She nodded, Ron jumped off the couch and they both ran to the portrait hole without saying another word. They ran down a couple hallways together before she spilt off into a side one and Ron continued down the main until he got to the Room of Requirement. After walking past it three times, he quickly burst in to find Draco standing by a table with a roast beef, candles, and roses on it, holding two slim glasses full of butterbeer. "All I could get my hands on," he said by way of apology.

"It's okay. I love you, you know. I've loved you since I first saw that you brought a chocolate cake." It was the first time that either of them had ever said it to the other, but neither brought attention to it. Instead, all Draco said was, "I love you too."

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	2. If I Could, I Would

**Here's the second chapter and the third should be tomorrow or the next day. I hope you like it.**

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Ron, Harry, and Hermione hurried to the Potions dungeons. All three of them had slept late (Though Harry and Hermione blushed when Ron asked them why they, the early birds of Gryffindor, had slept for so long. Ron decided then that he didn't want to know the answer.), and now all three of them were paying the price. Running down stairs and hallways, they finally got the dungeons to see that everyone was paired up, leaving only one open desk and one seat open next to Draco. Harry and Hermione looked at each other, looked at Ron, and then ran to the empty desk, leaving Ron to sit next to Draco. He couldn't decide whether to happy that they gave him a good excuse to sit next to Draco, or offended because what if he hadn't been secretly dating Draco! They would have just thrown him to the wolves (or ferret) to spend time together in their own little romantic world.

Ron made his way to Draco's desk, trying to look disappointed and mad, but still couldn't help the little spring in his step as he did so, hoping no one noticed. Dean looked at him oddly, but that was probably because for the first time since Dean had started dating Ginny, Ron wasn't glaring at him. Ron sat down next to Draco, who sent him the obligatory glare, but a smile played on his lips. Ron wanted to kiss those lips.

"_Okay, first I find you making a potion not meant for class because you want to practice and now I find you in the library reading a book because you want to figure something out. Tell me the truth. You are actually Granger and have accidently swapped bodies with Weasley and don't know how to get back," Draco said incredulously at Ron, who was indeed reading a book on Charms because he wanted to figure out some from the Half-Blood Prince book that Harry took from Potions. They were sitting next to each other at the library, Ron finding out that Tracey Davis and Justin Finch-Fletchley had figured out what he had. The dungeons were a great place to be alone. He had then moved to library, knowing no one would even dare to be couple-ly in Madam Pince's baby._

_Ron laughed. It felt odd, laughing at something that Malfoy had said, but in a good way. Possibly as Ron couldn't really tell, it may be indigestion. "Yeah, but if me and Hermione actually had swapped bodies, she already would have figured out how to us back."_

_Draco smiled."Yeah, you're probably right. Granger is a know-it-all."_

_Ron slapped Draco on the back of his head like Hermione did with him and Harry at times and Draco just laughed. _He had a nice laugh _Ron thought. _And where the hell did that come from _a moment later._

_Ron didn't like the fact that he was getting a crush on Malfoy. He had known he was gay since fourth year and had gotten a huge crush on Viktor Krum, though he had tried to cover it up by making a fool of himself with Fleur Delacour. He had come out to Harry and Hermione, though he still hadn't told his family, in fifth year. Harry was fine with it though Ron could tell that he was a little uncomfortable with it and still was slightly. Hermione was fine with it too, as apparently she had two gay uncles that lived in San Francisco that she visited every summer. Ron never would have guessed it. His family didn't know, but he bet that some of them had their questions. No one knew except Ernie Macmillian, Terry Boot, and Adrian Pucey, the three failed dates that Hermione had set him up with before Harry had managed to convince her that Ron was a big boy and could find dates by himself._

_He blamed those thoughts, plus the fact that Draco's eyes were just so _gray _and his hair just an incredible silvery blonde as to why he kissed Draco in that moment. He was glad that he did though when Draco kissed him back._

Ron blinked as he woke up. His throat still hurt, though he supposed that was too expected since Harry had shoved a bezoar down it. He thought he was alone until he felt a cool hand on his forehead. He instinctively turned toward it and hmmed. He heard Draco chuckled. "Stay," Ron said sleepily.

"If I could, I would," Draco said. "If I could, I would." He then got up and left. Ron missed him when he did.

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**Please review! Also, stop by my challenges at the Harry Potter Fanfiction Challenges Forum. Espically the newest, The Adoption Challenge.**


	3. You, My Friend, Are Whipped

**This is much longer and angsty than the other chapters, but I hope you will like it just as much. Also, the title of this story appeared nowhere in it, but it felt like it fit and that is why I did it.**

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Ron looked at Remus and Tonks, who were kissing after their declarations of love. He looked at Bill and Fleur, who were just staring into each other's eyes, truly in love. He wanted to do those things with someone, but the person he wanted them with was nowhere to be found.

Where _was_ Draco? Ron hadn't seen him in the fighting, but then again he hadn't seen _any_ Slytherins in the fighting. _Draco was probably fighting in it somewhere, _thought Ron desperately. _He had to have been. He's changed. I've changed him because I love him and he loves me._ Ron ignored the gut feeling that while Draco might love him, he hadn't changed.

Ron slowly got up and saw Hermione look at him questioningly. He shook his head to signal to her to leave him alone and then he slowly walked out of the hospital wing, bursting into a run as soon as he left.

_Ron and Draco sat under a tree near the edge of the Forbidden Forest, not touching, both of them were just staring into space. No one could see them, but they could see everyone, including Harry and Hermione, who were acting almost sickeningly lovey-dovey underneath the giant oak near the Great Lake. Ron wondered if he and Draco would look like that if anyone could see them. He hoped so. Ron looked at Draco, who had been more and more withdrawn ever since the incident with the poison. Ron supposed he hadn't helped the attitude when he told Draco about Harry claiming that Draco was the cause of everything that had been happening lately. It worried Ron that while Draco denied it, there was something off about his denial. Ron ignored the worry._

_Ron looked back at the Great Oak. Harry and Hermione were gone, now either visiting the library or visiting a broom closet. He looked back at Draco. Ron sighed and said the words that he had been thinking more and more about for the last few weeks._

"_I think we should come out. To everyone."_

_That brought Draco back to reality. He looked at Ron with shock on his face. "WHAT! Why would you want to come out? You've only come out to Potter and Granger and I haven't come out to any of my friends, let alone to either of our families! Shouldn't we at least let them get adjusted to the idea that we're gay in the first place before we tell them that we're in a relationship?" Draco was starting to yell and Ron had to quickly shush him as people were starting to hear a noise and were looking in their direction._

"_I know that, you idiot, but I just think we should at least start thinking about and start dropping hints."_

"_Hints? What hints?"_

"_I don't know. People already think that you might be gay and I'll start talking about haircuts and clothes or something. Just things. Talk to people and see what they think about homosexuals."_

"_Who thinks I'm gay? That's offensive. How would they feel if I started calling them gay? So I care about my clothes and my hair and what my room looks like. That's no gay, that's called taste."_

"_Draco, you are gay."_

"_Yeah, but I can still take offense to it."_

_Ron laughed and got up. He needed to meet Neville in fifteen minutes for a Herbology project and he was already going to be late as it was. "Meet me here later," he said as he turned to walk away._

"_Hey," he heard Draco said. Ron looked behind him. "I think we should just meet here. It can be our place, since everywhere else we can think has been taken. The dungeons by Tracy and Finch-Fletchley, the library by Bones and Corner, the Room of Requirement by Macmillian and Abbott. I'll think about coming out."_

_Ron smiled. "Sure thing, Draco."_

"_I wouldn't come out for anyone you know."_

"_That's because you, my friend, are whipped."_

Ron ran all the way to the tree, not stopping all the way there and he was out of breath by the time he got there. Draco was under it. Ron couldn't help but smile when he saw him, but something about the way Draco was holding himself quickly wiped it away.

"What's the matter?" Ron asked fearfully.

"I know what happened." Draco's voice sounded dead.

"With what?" Ron had a sinking feeling about what it was though and his suspicions were proven right with what Draco said next.

"Dumbledore's death." If Ron thought that Draco's voice sounded dead, his eyes were even worse. Ron instantly walked up to Draco and hugged him. Draco stood still for a minute before his arms curled around Ron and started sobbing into his shoulder. Ron just made soothing sounds and started rubbing Draco's back. In a moment though, he asked the question he was dying to ask.

"What about it? Harry said that Snape had killed Dumbledore."

"But I was supposed to." Ron stilled.

"_What!"_ he said.

Draco pulled away, grabbed Ron's wrist, and started to explain everything. He explained him joining the Death Eaters, about what Voldemort told him to do, about the necklace, the mead, everything. By the end of it, Ron could only say one thing. "I'll help you. Come with me and we'll explain everything to my family. Come on Draco, we'll do it and why are you looking at me like that?"

Draco swallowed. "I can't. I can't go with you. I'm sorry Ron, but I can't. I just –"

"Can't," Ron finished dully. "Then I need to go if you can't."

"No, Ron, we can make this work." Draco's grip on Ron's wrist was becoming tighter. Ron started to fight him, but he couldn't break free. "Let me go."

"Believe me Ron we can make this work." Draco kept on saying over and over again while Ron was saying, "Let me go. Let me go. LET ME GO!"

"We can –" Draco never finished that sentence as right then Harry punched him. Green eyes furious as he looked at Draco, Hermione was behind him looking at Draco with disgust. Harry said, coldly, calmly, "I heard everything, so that's why I'm going to let you go. But if you ever come near Ron again, I'll hurt you so bad; you'll wish you were dead." Gray eyes met green and a glare was held for a few moments before Draco got up in left. Harry and Hermione then turned to look at Ron, who felt like he needed only one little nudge to burst into tears.

That nudge came when Hermione wrapped her arms around him.

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